Debates of the Senate

Debates of the Senate 2nd SESSION . 41st PARLIAMENT . VOLUME 149 . NUMBER 51 OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Wednesday, April 9, 2014 The Honourable NOËL A. KINSELLA Speaker CONTENTS (Daily index of proceedings appears at back of this issue). Debates Services: D'Arcy McPherson, National Press Building, Room 906, Tel. 613-995-5756 Publications Centre: David Reeves, National Press Building, Room 926, Tel. 613-947-0609 Published by the Senate Available on the Internet: http://www.parl.gc.ca 1343 THE SENATE Wednesday, April 9, 2014 The Senate met at 1:30 p.m., the Speaker in the chair. except one who is still fighting in the Congo as chief of staff of the brigade, another who is a security officer in Yemen, and the last Prayers. one who was absent because he committed suicide five years ago. I want to thank our commander-in-chief, the Governor SENATORS' STATEMENTS General, for receiving us and for acknowledging through him and his wife the concerns of the operational stress injuries incurred by those who try to go in and assist. RWANDAN GENOCIDE I wish to thank Speaker Kinsella for receiving us in his quarters TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY for a lunch and for taking the time here to explain the extraordinary room to those who were injured with me who Hon. Roméo Antonius Dallaire: Honourable senators, this week appreciated the opportunity to sit in the Red Chamber and to be marks the twentieth anniversary of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. so educated and recognized as Canadians. On this occasion, we mourn the dead and we celebrate the courage of the survivors, those who bear the weight of history and I wish to thank the Speaker of the House of Commons, Andrew the physical, emotional and psychological wounds from this Scheer, for letting the house also recognize us at the end of unimaginable horror. Question Period. I must say that one of my colleagues said, ``This reminds me of some of the negotiations we were having for This is also a time for deep reflections on what we must learn ceasefires during the Rwandan genocide.'' from the legacy of that terrible spring in 1994. First, there is the acknowledgement of the value of all humans as being worthy of I wish to thank Senator Day for his statement on that day. our care, compassion and, where necessary, our protection, as the world failed to observe in Rwanda at the time of the genocide. I want to thank members of all political parties who took the opportunity to mark this occasion in both chambers, MP As I have said in this chamber before, all humans are human; Belanger in particular. I want to thank the Mayor of Montreal, no one human is more human than any other. Denis Coderre, who organized a remembrance event that was second to none. A second thing to learn is the need for serious leadership on the world stage to ensure that the mistakes of Rwanda, Darfur, I want to thank the survivors and associations that continue to Congo, and now Syria and the Central African Republic are not show courage and leadership throughout the remembrance continuously growing or being repeated by the international process. And I want to thank you, my colleagues, for being so community. generous with your concerns towards me. We are in serious need of the presence not of political elites but Thank you. of statesmen — people who have the flexibility of mind, the humility and the courage to take risks in order to intervene early and with innovative thoughts that curtail such catastrophes. On BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE this subject, our country has reasons to celebrate: as examples, the contribution of Canadian diplomats to the adoption of the NINETY-SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY responsibility-to-protect principles, to the creation of the International Criminal Court through the Rome Statute, and to Hon. Daniel Lang: Today, Canada's flag flies at half-mast as we other efforts to promote peace and security throughout the world. pay tribute to a generation of Canadians from across this nation We were intelligentsia in the UN and are recognized by the world. who on this day 97 years ago converged on a ridge in France It is time for our country to return to that proud heritage and called Vimy. Now that we have entered the era where the provide the international community with these assets. memories of the gallant are no longer heard but now only read and seen in paintings such as we have here in the Senate chamber, Third, it is our duty to remember and reject revisionism and it is incumbent upon us to bear witness to their devotion and duty genocide denial, which, as scholarship has shown, work only to in their own words. reinjure those who have been wounded in these awful tragedies. I have been drawn over the past few days to the remembrances Colleagues, let me end my remarks with a few words of thanks of Canon F.G. Scott, Padre of 1st Canadian Division. He for all those who continue to stand with us in these difficult times recalled: of remembrance and who, with concrete gestures, have helped mark the sombre anniversary throughout the country. I thank Never was the spirit of comradeship higher in the Canadian first my colleagues from the Rwandan mission who travelled to Corps. Never was there a greater sense of unity. The task Ottawa this weekend to mark the occasion of that catastrophic laid upon us was a tremendous one, but in the heart of each mission and the impact on them and their families. All came, man, from private to general, was the determination that it 1344 SENATE DEBATES April 9, 2014 should be performed. On that Easter night, the battalions Canada sent nearly 700,000 soldiers. Of that number, took their places in the line. The men at the guns, which had 68,000 lost their lives — most of them are buried in Flanders hitherto been conceal and kept silent, were ready to open and France — and more than 280,000 were injured. Nearly 10 per fire at zero hour, and all along that front the eager heart of cent of the Canadian population at the time served in the war. Canada waited impatiently for the dawn. That is a huge number for a country that was fighting on foreign soil. (1340) In total, 39,000 French Canadians served in the armed forces. Honourable senators, Canadians broke that dawn with an Of those soldiers, 21,470 were Quebecers and 8,750 were Acadians indomitable fighting spirit, one that has been instilled among all and francophones from elsewhere in the country. There is little those who continue to serve our Crown and country. known about their participation even today. Few historians have focused on it, even though they made such a remarkable And as we remember today where a grand and vast nation contribution. stood first as Canada, we will never forget that courage and sacrifice that bore our nation one of its finest hours. Quite early in the war, Canada realized that it needed to create a unit for unilingual French Canadians, so that they could be Padre Scott wrote after the battle, and upon meeting a British trained and commanded in French. Thus, the 22nd Infantry staff officer on his way to headquarters from the front line, the Battalion was created. After the war, it became known as the officer asked him if he was a Canadian. When he replied yes, the Royal 22e Régiment. Our colleague, Senator Dallaire, is a officer replied, ``I congratulate you upon it.'' But with a typical distinguished representative of that regiment. Canadian modesty, he reminded the officer that the British artillery fought alongside the four Canadian divisions. This battalion distinguished itself at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which we are commemorating today, April 9. It is a victory that The British officer replied, ``That may be, but never since the has remained one of Canada's finest military moments. world began have men made a charge with a finer spirit.'' Honourable senators, what do these events tell us about God save our Queen and God bless Canada. ourselves, about how we define our connection to Canada and our connection to France, England and America? [Translation] I would like to conclude by saying that next fall, the Canada- WORLD WAR I France Interparliamentary Association, led by our colleagues, Senators Claudette Tardif and Michel Rivard, will sponsor a joint ROLE OF FRENCH CANADIANS commemorative symposium with French parliamentarians. The first public session will be held here, in Parliament, during the week of November 11. This interparliamentary symposium will Hon. Serge Joyal: Honourable senators, last Friday, at my give us an opportunity to reassess the understanding that we have, own expense, I attended a commemorative symposium on 100 years later, of the Great War — the ``Der des Ders'' as it's World War I in Paris, at the Hôtel national des invalides, which known in German — so that current generations, who live in a houses the military museum. The theme of the symposium was different reality, can remember. It will also help us better Quebec's participation in the war. understand why it is important to keep a close connection with the past and what it takes to maintain peace in contemporary Thirteen French and Canadian historians spoke. I want to share times. some figures about this war, which are absolutely staggering to think of now. VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN AND YOUTH In total, there were more than 120 million people involved in the war on both sides.

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